They say you can’t teach an old dog a new trick, but I found a quantum loophole. Teach the dog that it’s still young, and voilá! You get two new tricks for the price of one. Last month, I took a workshop on a new fitness program called I-Fit 150. At first, I was somewhat skeptical that I could learn very much. After all, I play a competitive sport that requires top cardiovascular fitness, and thanks to weight training, I’ve remained injury-free for a long time. As far as I was concerned, I am fit as a fiddle.

However, several aspects of the I-Fit 150 program made me curious. What on Earth was “intended evolution fitness”? What was a longevity blueprint and how could it alter the aging process? How could thoughts sharpen the senses or detoxify organs? To these and other sci-fi-sounding questions I sought answers. Little did I know that my definition of fitness was about to change.

Right off the bat, the I-Fit 150 program shows you the aspects of your mind/body fitness that you may be already neglecting. The course starts out with a series of tests that benchmark key fitness conditions like lung strength and capacity, spatial acuity, flexibility, memory, and dexterity.

Let’s just say that apart from a few tests that touched my areas of strength, the rest made a deep impression, mostly on account of my meager scores. I couldn’t believe it. By the looks of it, I wasn’t very fit across the board. Little by little I began to realize that I had a rather traditional outlook on fitness, and that despite the importance of cardiovascular stamina and muscular strength, these do not tell the whole story.

I saw that the I-Fit 150 program aims to be your very own 401K for mind and body fitness. After all, we should pay as much attention to the unseen parts of our body that are fundamental for long-term health—like the liver, spine, eyes, and lymph nodes—as we do to our abs, butts, and triceps.

I hadn’t quite grasped the ramifications of that when I also heard the instructors say that many people tend to overdevelop certain parts of their body at the expense of others. After all, overtraining can stress joints and ligaments, detracting from overall health and longevity rather providing systemic balance. I see this at the gym often where most grunts, puffs, and slammed dumb bells come from the prevalent outlook of mind over matter and no pain, no gain.

However, I was about to discover that the mind does matter, and that according to the latest medical research, it’s more like: no brain, no gain.

Dr. Don X. Zhang, the founder of the I-Fit 150 program, is a heralded doctor of Oriental medicine and acupuncture, whose theory of intended evolution contends that conscious intention actively shapes our health. He says that the mind has the power to realign cellular memory, thereby discarding the gradual signposts of aging that we passively assimilate.

I also recalled Dr. Bruce Lipton’s book Biology of Belief, which says that genes do not trigger disease on a predetermined timetable as much as they are activated by environmental cues. His research indicates that our cells’ core intelligence does not come from the nucleus, but its membrane. He explains that the membrane is made up of polarized and non-polarized molecules, which exhibit keen awareness of their environment, constantly probing external signs to switch from growth to protect mode.

And what’s the primary environment our cells are exposed to? Our thoughts. Therefore, it is simple to appreciate the power of conscious intention, particularly when you exercise. Taking that one step further, using conscious attention to gradually reset cellular memory, you end up with a tantalizing actionable plan: a longevity blueprint that reinforces youth’s dynamism within the body during every workout.

But heck, don’t take my word for it; take my body’s. After I learned how to activate my energy meridians, I felt the keen difference between starting a workout with a dead battery versus a new one. The workshop showcases a video of a few stellar elderly whose bodies retain the agility and flexibility of their grandchildren. That’s when I realized that fitness should really be a deliberate plan to reprogram youth at the cellular level; the level where cells remember.

I-Fit 150 teaches that there’s a lot at stake every time we exercise. The blueprint of our health is recorded in every one of our cells. We can all be young dawgs again.

For more information on I-Fit 150 call (641) 919-7221 or (317) 410-6580. .